TVNZ One News Aug 11:
Greens dilute Buy Kiwi campaign
...The Green Party has refined the campaign so that goods designed, but not necessarily made in New Zealand, can also be covered.
This is a shocking headline How on earth could the Greens possibly dilute this keystone element of their agreement with Labour? Doesn't that go against all their principles? How can this be?
TVNZ One News Aug 13:
Buy Kiwi Made proposal criticised
...Labour has asked the Greens to extend their proposed scheme to include New Zealand-based designers whose products are made overseas... Green MP Sue Bradford, says she has no intention of allowing firms which use foreign labour to be part of Buy Kiwi Made...
Oh. Labour is pressuring the Greens to do something they are opposed to. So that previous article and that shocking headline were completely misleading and just plain wrong then? Yep.
They were reporting it on the radio last Firday that the Greens had compromised. They said that NZ companies who designed clothes locally and had them made in China would be allowed to label themselves as NZ Made, effectively affiliating the brand with sweatshops.
I'm glad to see that the Greens have not rolled over on this issue.
Posted by: Pearce at August 14, 2006 12:06 PMI scheme that supports NZ designed goods and services is probably a good thing. NZ has to climb UP the skill chain, and desperately fast too, or else we will marooned just like the US auto industry.
Unless we get into robotics big time we need to expect that most goods in NZ cannot economically be NZ made.
Posted by: d3vo at August 14, 2006 10:53 PMIn unrelated news (well, not entirely, it does involve something the Green party are / were known for - cannabis (due to Nandor Tanczos))...
Morgue, I am surprised I haven't heard anything from you on the Basketball, either the series against Qatar or the cannabis suspension for "Sparky" Mark Dickel. Heh, Sparky now has a new connotation.
Posted by: Jon at August 15, 2006 12:00 AM"Unless we get into robotics big time we need to expect that most goods in NZ cannot economically be NZ made."
That's sort of irrelevant to whether goods made in China should be labelled as made in NZ.
Posted by: Pearce at August 15, 2006 9:49 AMHow about:
"Designed by genuine New Zealand adults - made by genuine Chinese children"?
Posted by: Pearce at August 15, 2006 12:29 PMCreating a circle:
http://blog.greens.org.nz/index.php/2006/08/14/kiwi-made-kafuffle/
The Greens' frog blog links to this post.
Posted by: Pearce at August 16, 2006 4:46 PMHuh, nice. Who did that?
There are many interesting lurkers out there, that much I do know :-)